Kew team revives 'Living Dead'

It is being hailed as the return of the living dead - the incredible comeback of a tropical plant so rare that only one is known to exist in the wild.

The Cafe Marron, native to the Mauritian island of Rodrigues, was feared extinct by locals who had not spotted it for more than 40 years.

However, 11 years ago a schoolboy discovered it by chance. His teacher had asked him to find something for the class nature table and he obliged by returning a sprig.

The teacher, a keen amateur botanist, did not recognise the leaves and alerted professionals. Eventually, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew was contacted and a representative flew out to the Indian Ocean to verify the find.

The solitary plant, which produces enchanting white petals, was fenced in by islanders after rumours began to circulate of its healing properties and people sought to take cuttings.

Experts nicknamed it "the Living Dead" after accepting that it could not regenerate naturally, probably due to a defect in the species. But the saga took on a new twist in 1996 when tiny samples of the plant, a member of the coffee family and also known as Ramosmania rodriguesii, were flown to Kew.

A team at the gardens in south-west London began to turn back the onset of nature, by painstakingly cultivating 35 in the nursery under highly-controlled conditions, a feat requiring great skill and tremendous patience.

The results exceeded expectations and now Kew has returned 11 cuttings to Mauritius where they are being cultivated in greenhouses while the search for a suitable planting area continues.

Belinda Parry, a senior botanical horticulturalist at Kew, said: "Apparently the cuttings are doing really well back on the island but they need to grow them on for a while before they can be planted. I'll be staying in contact with colleagues on Rodrigues to see how they develop. It is magnificent to think that we may have saved this beautiful plant from becoming extinct."

Progress in the wild, however, will be limited and ongoing cultivation will be essential.

Colin Clubbe, Kew's coordinator of Graduate Studies, explained: "It can't sow viable seeds. Reproductive biologists have worked hard to see why, when it flowers like mad, it doesn't set seeds. We think there may be something fundamentally wrong with the flower."

Twenty-four cuttings remain at Kew and one Cafe Marron has gone on show to the public in the Palm House.